GeekTalk 2.0

#BirthdayPledge

We often discuss what is the real value of the smallest interactions on Social Media and pundits have come up with one scheme after another in the desperate attempt to derive a metric that makes sense.

This is a discussion I have very little passion for, but it’s one of those things that makes people feel like true quants who can read numbers.

As I sat at my computer today I was flooded by birthday wishes, something that always surprises me since I have become loath of this particular day as it reminds me of a very unhappy event occurring today a few years ago. But this is of course something that people do not know and their wishes have value for me nonetheless, as they convey the warmth of their affection.

But exactly, how much value? More or less value than a “like” on Facebook? And if it was something we could decide ourselves?

So here is my idea for a #BirthdayPledge:

For every Happy Birthday I receive on Facebook until 23:59 (CEST) of today, I will donate one euro to a charity.

The one I have chosen is the Caritas of the Pavia Diocesis: I know well don Dario Crotti and they have been spending prodigious efforts to support Syrian refugees way before it became fashionable.

So here you go, there is another 5 hours and 17 minutes left for you to make a (small) difference.

But there’s another thing you can do as a birthday present to me: spread the word.

The beauty of the idea is that you decide the destination and the amount you want to give for each wish, but your friends will ultimately decide how much you give: someone who recently lost his job may give 1c, while Larry Ellison may give 100 grand per wish, but the mechanism remains the same. Think about it as social giving, if you like buzzwords.